Perhaps, one of the tragedies of the 2000 election is that America was denied its first futurist president. I met Al Gore in 1982 at a futurist conference in Washington when he was just an unknown congressman.

Al Gore was a multiplex thinker. Someone who could hop from one level of reality to another.

I also saw that he was a poor public speaker and not a very skilled politician. This combination proved to be Al's undoing. He was lucky that Bill Clinton had the genius to make him Veep. This gave him his only real shot at being president and he blew it big time. The rest is history.

But what does multiplex thinking really mean?

Well, at these futurist conferences I learned to think globally and act locally. To act globally and think locally too.

I saw that we need to see things on a global level as well as a local level simultaneously because everything is inter-connected. I saw that what we did on a local level had huge effects bit by bit on bigger and bigger scales.

Al saw this.

I did too.

I started to look at macro-evolutionary trends.

During the last century humans have been given opportunities that past humans never had. Machines now can do all manual work. Most of our food growing and manufacturing is done by a small percentage of our population. Everyone else works in the service and information industries.

All manufacturing and food growing in theory can be automated now. Also a lot of things in the service and information industries as well. But if humans automate everything how will all this vast new automated wealth be distributed?

We lack the political software for handling this opportunity.

If people had a lot of leisure time what would they do with it?

Most schools today train people to be job-seekers looking for work in an increasingly unstable employment environment.

Besides working for a paycheck. People work hard doing domestic chores, doing hobbies, and helping other people out, but they don't get paid for doing this

So work and employment are not the same, but employment gets compensated with a paycheck and work much less, even though its just as important.

Today, the more the information revolution accelerates the more we see people involved in mental tasking. No more farm or factory work. This forces people to live in their minds more and the internet is connecting these minds more and more. So a tribal kind of consciousness is possible again via the web. This will accelerate with internet video and text-messaging.

The less people burn energy for driving and the more people spend time tele-commuting the more the nature of consumption changes and is less harsh on the environment. Of course info smog is now a serious problem just as serious as physical smog, but that's the challenge of living in a mental/digital environment.

This mental work which will dominate future generations is still not fully compensated and understood by economists even as it becomes more and more important.

So besides digital survival cards. Small business loans will be critical more than ever as people start working for each other. The official job market will shrink.

Did I say digital survival cards?

Keep reading.

I will get to that.

Our population is also now aging fast. In Europe, Japan, and Russia, the populations of these countries can't even replace themselves. It's well known that when humans reach a certain standard of living they start having less kids. China and India will reach this threshold in the next forty years. The big demographic bubble that started in the 1400's will pop at that time.

So less people and less physical consumption. If digital life de-centralizes everything than huge bureaucracies are no longer needed. Skeleton and flatter digital bureaucracies can dole out to people who still need the basics--digital money cards to spend every month on survival if they need it. Not all will need this subsidy, but whoever needs it can get it.

The left/right debate makes no sense in a digital age. Smaller, generous and smarter government is possible on all levels.

People with more free time need to learn to be more creative and their schooling will never end. Employment will be less, but work will always be around. There is a difference between these two.

Who will pay for all this?

Well, societies always found new ways to redistribute wealth and a digital society will do the same. Am I talking scifi here?

Not really....

Star Trek is closer on the horizon then anyone cares to admit.

What is needed is more IMAGINATION.

That's what level-hopping is all about.

Seeing things from multiple angles in order to find the optimal solution. This essay has been an exercise in level-hopping.

Obama is a great level-hopper and he may not have the solutions to America's problems, but he will ask a lot of questions from multiple angles in a search for those answers.

When one studies meditation and discovers the various layers of mind any individual has. One sees the huge resource the mind really is with answers to any problem to be found by tapping the right mind layer.

This is no different for a group mind.

The internet is creating a global mind with multiple layers for creative tapping.

Human minds pooled together become an even bigger resource.

Is this like 2001: A Space Odyssey?

Yup.

That star-child at the end of the movie symbolizes the leap in evolution to a bigger global mind.

Don't tell this to Palin, or McCain, or Bush though. Their level hopping is not something to really write home about. Pretty bad software in those heads. It's worse than Windows....

walk through the remote viewing mind in multiple layers of.....
Visonary, futuristic, explorative, theoretical...and again back to visions, mulitple ability to see the whole while being in one spot...perfect.

----

Quotes by Michale:

"The left/right debate makes no sense in a digital age. Smaller, generous and smarter government is possible on all levels."

And

"This is no different for a group mind.

The internet is creating a global mind with multiple layers for creative tapping."
----

These are just two of the quotes that jumped out at me the most, but this is taken in as a whole and to me is understood easily, I get each point and where you are leading and the whole concept here. Takes me into thinking of remote viewing, collective unconscious, and learning by rote, memory, passing information via rote collective consciousness, etc., of those who are the next step in human evolution, yes, the next step, since some are far behind that level or even open to going there...
...like Star Trek futuristic concepts, that are already here, not just concept but developing, and already exist, and society has not caught up to it, just like our bodies are still not far from the cave man days and have not evolved with the technology, so as with our thinking, very good, Michael,...

...brings me a better understanding what Ken Ring,PhD meant when he said that of those of us in his book (The Omega Project) who participated in his study....yes, like meditation and being able to be on various levels, and various dimensions of thought, time and place, etc. all at once...I can't put it into words but I get what you are saying here about it. I get it. That's all I can say.

Yes I can see the forest despite the trees, and I am here with this tree yet with all trees...

I think for those who meditate or who have experience altered states of consciousness this may be more easily grasped, but eventually it will dawn on all...

Now this whole re-distribution thing...that is the BIG question, smaller government, smaller businesses, people working in smaller groups, yet globally, etc., why they still call that crazy talk at the white house and commie talk too.

And, yes, I agree there is a lot to learn and grasp right now, the information technology is hitting faster than a speeding bullet and it is hard to take it all in so quickly, but yes, I do very much think that the key, the answers and solutions to all problems are within us, within our knowledge to solve...just have to tap into the right space, the answers to all are within us all.

OK, I got it and I liked how you put this, simple and clear as day to me. But for many people this is a huge leap...a generational thing, and the amazing thing...but that makes no difference in some cases depending on what cultural group our particular generation came from..ah...too much to get into right and it will sound elitist and ridiculous ( my favorite word) to some...so I will stop with my ramblings here.

Thanks for this Michael, very stimulating and multiplex, multilevel, visionary thinking in a sense of (yes, I am going to say it) like M-theory, quantum...there is not here or there, there is all in one. That is the local and the global, period.

I would like to get into this with you more in depth via email, because I don't want to sound like an idiot and there are things I want say and add to this and comment that I would rather not get into publicly for the sake of a more serious and deeper discussion.

Cool. This was worth the wait to read, and again, I am bogged in all you sent me to read, still reading...amazing stuff. But amazing and being open to amazing has been a reality for me my whole life...so amazing it interesting to me, just more new stuff to add to my already overwhelmed brain capacity on a conscious level, but the unconscious level is unlimited...

...these things I already know and see and think in this process and I wish I could just rote it right into that layer where there is plenty of room for expansion.

Last word again, I get it, got all of it, and I think you simplified it as best you could, there is so much more to this and yet you managed to keep it short and concise. Very good job of writing here, Michael, and expressing in very few words what would take me several hours of rambling speeches, and even then I would have to be among my own kind who could deal with it...

all have digressed from the point....
Michael, is talking about concepts and things that have nothing to do with what you all have gotten into here....he is light-years away in subject matter from what you all are saying in response to his piece. He was not posting this as debate, simply stating things he has learned in a particular area of thinking known as futurists. And I understand those leaps he speaks of because he has gotten into concepts here that go beyond your normal physical means of thinking. Anyway, good job, Michael and I am sorry, you have been misunderstood. I got it.

Blessings and thanks again for posting this and presenting concepts that are truly stimulating and thought provoking, which is your talent and speciality. You are a good writer, and your mind and knowledge of certain things fascinates me. I know of what you speak from experience, but most have NO point of reference no do they care to even go there....so, I say, to each his own thoughts and universes big and small;-)

Started as comment, led to rant-
First, your essay way very thought provoking.

I will try not to get off point. (Keep that in mind, but I am a rambler, so don't be surprised if I am unable to succeed in that!)

What an amazing part of history we have a chance to partake in!

My daughter will be voting for the first time, this election-
She was born in Jan. '87, and was SOOOO annoyed
that she missed the last vote by a few months-

Al Gore?, I feel, who can blame him? The history
books of the future may tell the real story, but
what I remember is that Al should have been the president... made for a very uncomfortable
Thanksgiving in my family home that year, since I am the only left leaner, and that was one messy
election, that ended with the Supreme court
decidng who the American people 'voted' for... the decision had still not been reached by
Thanksgiving, and I let my two sisters have the turkey legs. (We all ended up with the great BIG turkey, didn't we?)

I grew up with a father who was a spy for the CIA. It was very interesting, in retrospect. I was a school girl in a private Catholic school and I would be reprimanded (read -HIT) because I was not allowed to tell what my father's job was. Really very illogical, since what I was allowed to say was that my father worked for the government in a "secretive" position. Thinking back, it doesn't seem to me too difficult to figure out. But I digress-

What a different world it might be now if Al had been allowed to be elected. How might 9-11 have been handled differently? (Actually, W did okay there, imo, it was the aftermath, the wmd's, etc., that led to this rediculous war. I couldn't help but think then, as I do now, that W had to cowboy it, and try to make his daddy proud, -that he could take out Saddam, his father's nemesis.
(His father was my father's boss, both in the CIA, and after my dad retired and George Sr. was in the white house, my dad did covert operations, working for, and reporting directly to the president, GHW Bush.)

It was personal-to W, and here 5 years later, we are still enmeshed in Iraq. Saddam is dead, but Bin Laden is still out there. We are spending $10 BILLION a month, rebuilding Iraq, (which we blew up, and took out) and allowing America to fail.

I am about to lose my house, although I don't fall anywhere near the 'help' guidlines. I am simply a single unemployed mother with a kid in college, and another one about to start. I haven't had health insurance in 13 years. My kids lost their's this summer, bacause their father, who is court ordered to mantain insurance on them, just doesn't, and the only way to get him to do it is to hire a lawyer (which I can't afford) to make the court take notice.

Okay, so blah, blah, blah... poor me...

Perhaps if we all had a huge black stone to contemplate, we could make things different? Or would that be George W? Black stone is giving him too much credit for consciousness, I think.

This bail-out, I don't get. But I am a simple girl... How much did they say is going to the wooden arrow makers, and does that make any sense to any one? I grant you, I am not the brightest crayon in the box, but wooden arrow makers? Someone, please explain- or don't. It might just make me feel worse about losing my house after 10 years....

Futurists? I have a daughter who is about to graduate from UVA. Another who is preparing to go. They are my futurists. They are my eggs in the basket, and I will put my money (all $66.21 that I have in the bank!- At least it is FDIC insured)
I had a hard time when they were little, explaining why some people have so much, and others, so little. But I did a pretty good job, and they have magnificent hearts. The older is helping young, under-priveleged children. The younger is planning on spending time in Africa working in the educational field after she gets out of school. I did something right to get them to understand that blackberries, i-phones, an x-boxes, do not make the world go round.

I only hope I can hold it together for them for another few years. But I must look them in the eye everyday, and tell them our leaders are greedy sons-of-bitches who have enough money to heat their homes, although we will be cold this winter. To explain why we can no longer afford to have pork chops, but must be satisfied with grilled cheese, soon to be only grilled bread...

I don't see much level "hopping". I just keep falling...

Guess I didn't do so well at staying on point, but your essay definately hit a note with me.

Sarah did okay last night. Her coaching kept her from being overly sarcastic, and kept her voice to a minimal whine.

You would think that I might jump on her band-wagon, like alot of other white women with kids... Sorry. But I don't care how "pro-life" you are, if your 17 year old daughter ends up unintentionally preganant, somehow I think you have not done the most responsible parenting job.
I'm as prepared to run this country as she is, and I'm a mess!
George Lopez was funny when he said he believs Palin is Chicano- both because of her daughter's being preganant at 17, and because Sarah is the working half of her marriage ;)

Anyway, thanks for tolerating my rant here- (I hope you are not terribly annoyed with me)
and for such a thought provoking essay.

-I haven't been around Lit.org in a while, and I guess somehow, I felt compelled to make up for my absence all at once on your thread! I apologize, but thank you for the opportunity to get this all off my chest, and your words here that brought all this out somehow...

Eric tell me I am full of shit but do not accuse me of being what I am not....
Eric,

Eric tell me I am full of shit but do not accuse me of being what I am not...."take over" that sounds like an action, as if someone had stopped you from speaking. Have I done that to you?

With all due respect, like you, I expressed an opinion more than once, and in my opinion freely spoken, as was yours, as are all spoken here.

I believe from "my viewpoint" as you have your own "view point", that the points made in Michael's post here were not taken or understood as he meant or was written.

That is my opinion, like your opinion. Like everyone else here has stated their opinions.

That DOES not make me a "take over of posts" as your stated.

What that makes me a participant like anyone and everyone else here, standing in line and giving more opinion...

...I do not see any deletions going on, do you? I don't. That would be the take over of posts and censorship, but giving opinion on opinion IS NOT censorship or take over?

It is all just words, opinions heaped upon more opinion. Each in his and her own turn. Period.

Perhaps it is I who is not getting it and am totally off track? And if you felt like telling me so, by saying, Lena you are full of shit, then by all means feel free. Tell me I am full shit. It is your prerogative. That is freedom o speech.

But do not accuse me of taking over posts when I am doing no such thing here, but participating in MORE opinion upon more opinion as others here have done.

If you don't like my opinion then state it as such.

And thank you for your concern for my health, but I know I cannot save the world, I am having a hard enough time just keep my own world breathing and being able to move here.

Blessings...
Lena

PS.
Michael, I love your posts, but my stress levels and blood pressure are through the roof right now. I have to back off...Eric is my also my friend. I apologize if my comments have started any shit on your post again...blessings to you and wishes for your own good health, Namaste;-)

No problem Elizabeth. That was a very entertaining and heart-felt " rant. " It had some serious thought and soul-searching....

BTW Bob, Al also like me is a fan of Teihard De Chardin the great Jesuit palentologist who coined the term noosphere.....the global mind skin emerging around the planet and complimenting our physical atmosphere....

Now that's spiritual scifi....my genre that I write about and that underlies all my work.....

"Global Mind Skin"
I came back here, and caught a glint of a few comments. Ahh... lit drama can be soap-opera-ish.

I am much more interested in your comment:

"the global mind skin emerging around the planet and complimenting our physical atmosphere....

Now that's spiritual scifi....my genre that I write about and that underlies all my work....."

I am recently contemplating the idea that we are the heart-beat of God; the pulse... trying to find words to describe what I mean, both in essay form and poetry.
I guess I start with this thought in the fact that it is nice. That we might be what gives God life, sustains life, is just a nice thought that is worth exploring.

Anyway, your comment about the "global mind skin" was an interesting thought and I'd like to know more if you have something to share.

See? I tend to ramble, but it's very nice to chat with you, and hi to all my old lit friends, if any of you happen to see this-

According to Teilhard, the growing media complex like radio, TV, and now the internet were the source of not only rewiring the planetary brain, but also the stepping off point for the creation of a psychic planet.

Teilhard also talked about the OMEGA point. A point where all this psychic energy was converging towards and ultimately migrating away from the planet. What is interesting about OMEGA is that it also was a spiritual manifestation of pre-signals from the future.

The future was an attractor pulling the present towards it....Teilhard called this attractor the Christ-mind, but you could also call it the Budddha-mind. It's just different words for the same thing.

Teilhard truly was the bridge between science and religion in the 20th century. He saw this bridging as creating a necessary UNITY and he was optimistic about the future of the human race. But saw the human race as a stepping stone to some new evolutionary and higher species.